Method of compacting articles



Jan. 16, 1940. F. D. FOWLE R 2,137,024

METHOD OF COMPACTING ARTiCLES Filed June 15. 1938 E -125a, fizz 17F Uzi/5E Patented Jan. 16, 1 940 rm'rnon or comac'rme narrows Fred 1). Fowler, Newton, Masa, assignor to Hood Rubber Company, Inc., Watertown, Mara, a

corporation of Delaware Application June 15, 1938, Serial-No. 213,852

2 Claims.

This invention relates to methods of compacting articles so as to adhere the assembled parts to each other and conform them to shape.

In the manufacture of rubber shoes and many I other rubber articles, the parts of the articles are cutfrom rubber sheet material and rubber covprovide secure .bonding of the rubber parts, to, Y

facilitate application of the parts to irregular shapes, to eliminate the use of hand tools, to

20 eliminateobjectionable marking of the articles,

and to facilitate manufacture.

These and other objects will appear from the following description and the accompanying drawing, 1

88 Of the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a rubber and I fabric shoe, in the manufacture of which the invention has been employed. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of apparatus for 89 practicing the invention with a shoe therein.

. Referring, to the drawing, an article such as a shoe III is assembled from parts of rubber and rubberized fabric such as the fabric upper ll, rubber toe cap l2, rubber eyelet strip l3, rubber as instep reinforcement l4, rubber sole l5, and rubber sole foxing it. The parts are assembled upon a supporting last ll, which for convenience, may

be mounted on a hanger i8.

The invention comprises compacting the shoe M or other article of manufacture and bonding its several parts to each other and conforming them to shape by a shower of pellets projected against its outer surface so as to pound the parts into intimate contact with each other. Spherical .55 pellets preferably of hard material such as steel or other hard metal or of glass or stoneware may be used, although softer materials may in some cases be utilized, such for example asrubber or other compositions.

50 A convenient means of promoting 'a shower of pellets is by feeding the pellets 20 from a storage bin 2| into a stream of compressed air travelling at a high velocity, for e ample a nozzle 22 may be I connected to a source compressed air by a hose ll 23 and the pellets from the reservoir '2! may be fed through a pipe 24 to the nozzle 22 which they enter through a Y-branch. As the pellets enter the air stream they are propelled against the surface of the article III. while the nozzle 22 may be directed by the hand of the operator, it is desirable to have some means for restraining the pellets and collecting them for reuse.

A convenient apparatus is a cabinet 25 having a track 26 extending therethrough, from which the article I I may be suspended for travel through the cabinet. A plurality of nozzles 22 may be mounted at strategic positions so as to project their pellets against the articles from different directions. The used pellets drop to the floor of the cabinet when they have lost their velocity and, due to the inclination of the floor of the cabinet, they roll to the outlets 21 where they may be collected and conveyedto the bin 2!! for reuse. The forms for supporting the articles may be conveyed through the cabinet by a chain conveyor. Valves 28, 29 in the air lines may be adjusted to control the velocity of the balls. The pellets used are preferably steel balls. Balls about .17 inch in diameter have given good results, but other sizes either larger or smaller, 85

may be used. However, preferably theyshould be large enough not to be retained by any apertures or cavities in the surface of the article.

It has been fOllIld that substantially no objectionable marking or indentation of the surface of 30 the article occurs, in fact where the rubber has a surface design consisting of ribs as fine as eighty ribs per inch, no noticeable marring of. the design occurs.

While the invention is illustrated in one form at in which the balls are projected against the article by the use of compressed air, it is contemplated that other mechanical or electrical means could be used to project the balls. These and many other modifications may be made without departea ing from the invention as it is defined by the following claims. i

I claim:

1. The method of compacting an assembled article of flexible material comprising an exposed {layer of unvulcanized rubber-like material without injurious marking or scarring of the exposed surface of said layer, said method comprising applying pressure to such layer by a multiplicity of blows directed against the exposed surface of said layer and transmitted through said layer to underlying layers, said blows being effected by bombarding such surface layer with pellets.

2. The method of compacting an assembled article of flexible'material comprising an exposed as layer of unvulcanized rubber-like material and an against the exposed layer and transmitted underlying adhered layer oi flexible material through said exposed layer to and into the underwithout inJuriou's marking or scarring of the siirlying layer, said blows being eliected by bombardface of said exposed layer, which method cdmin: said surface layer with pellets projected by 5 prises applying pressure to such superimposed fluid pressure.

adhered layers by a multiplicity of blows directed FRED D. FOWLER. 

